Video game conference tiltExpo, the successor to Escapist Expo, aims to top the success of its predecessor in part by boosting the musical component of an event that draws thousands to Durham each year.

 

The Triangle Game Initiative, the professional organization of video gaming companies in the Triangle, is spearheading planning for this year’s event, scheduled for Sept 4 to 7. Walter Rotenberry, co-president of the Initiative and a video game instructor at Wake Tech Community College, said the goal is to make tiltExpo like MAGfest, an annual music and gaming festival in Maryland that draws approximately 50,000 attendees.

MAGfest features a slate of musical performers and Rotenberry has been busy trying to land musical talent for the tiltExpo. The Durham event will be smaller in scale on the music side but the music portions will be open to the public, which should draw a different crowd. Last year, just 10 percent of the Escapist Expo’s 6,000 attendees came from outside of the region.

“This year, if we get the music talent we’re expecting, we may be able to draw some people from out of the area,” Rotenberry said.
So far, tiltExpo has lined up Italy-based DJ’s from Mars, listed by DJ Magazine as one of the top 100 DJ’s in the world; Ashes of a Martyr; DJ Cutman from Philadelphia; DJ Grimecraft from San Francisco; and DJ Hype Banannas. Rotenberry said organizers are working on adding more musical performers. Red Bull has been confirmed as an event sponsor.

The Escapist, an independent video games website founded and operated from Durham, was acquired by Alloy Digital in 2012. The following year, Alloy Digital merged with Break Media to form Defy Media. The Escapist has since decided not to make the Expo a focus of its operations, but it is teaming with the Triangle Game Initiative to put on the four-day video game festival.

Triangle Game Initiative already has experience coordinating large events. The Initiative hosts the East Coast Game Conference, the largest professional gathering of video game professionals on the East Coast. This year’s event was held at the Raleigh Convention Center in April. Rotenberry noted that the ECGC included a music component as well.

“Having the East Coast Game Conference as the professional event and the tiltExpo representing the consumer piece, we’re trying to represent both sides of the spectrum,” Rotenberry said.

While musical performances will be a more prominent part of the Expo, games are still the focal point of the event and this year’s event will feature gaming throughout, including board games. As in previous years, there will be a “cosplay” contest, short for costume play. New this year to the Expo is Quiddich, the sport from the Harry Potter books. Rotenberry said teams from Duke University, N.C. State University and UNC are expected to participate.

The tiltExpo website is not yet live. Speakers and musical acts are still being confirmed but Rotenberry said that tiltExpo will build on the success started by the Escapist Expo.

“We’re hoping to make it even bigger this year,” Rotenberry said. “We’ve got kind of a late start. We’re getting the word out.”